A colony for 50 years, federated , Unified to Ethiopia , in 1991's seceded after three decades of rebellion. Since 1998 Eritrea is at War, harboring proxy warriors especially the notorious Al- Shabab. Torture ,imprisonment , thousands fleeing, no religious freedom , the only university is closed, everybody is in the army, No Parliament, No election, No functioning institution, No free press & all living journalists are in prison. Eritrea is called the North Korea of Africa.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

The Government of Eritrea arrests 150 Christians found praying together

Release Eritrea, a UK based charity, has learnt that Eritrean security forces, raided a prayer meeting and arrested 150 Christians found praying together in Maitemenai, a suburb to the north of Asmara. It is thought that the believers had gathered to pray about the escalating refugee crisis and the trouble in the country that has been of concern to many Eritreans in recent days.

The gathering is said to have been under the auspices of an underground fellowship known locally as ‘Hiyaw Amlak’ (Living God). The fellowship is part of a wide network of underground fellowships that have been in operation throughout the country since 2002, when the Eritrean government shut all churches not belonging to the officially sanctioned religious groups.

Although no details of the whereabouts of all the prisoners have been disclosed officially, friends and families of the detained believe at least some of them are held at the 4th Police Station near an area known as Edaga Hamus in the adjoining district, from where the raid and arrests occurred.
The arrest has alarmed underground church leaders, who fear that this may be a sign of things to come.

-end-

Notes
1. Eritrea is one of the biggest violators on religious rights, churches not belonging to the Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran groups are banned their leaders have been under arrest since 2002. Those groups that are sanctioned by the government operate under severe restriction and also suffer from persecution against outspoken leaders. The Patriarch of the orthodox Church disappeared in 2005.
2. It is believed that upto 2,000 Christians are being detained and harassed on the count of their faith, and many leave the country following arrests or harassment.
3. Release Eritrea is a UK based human rights charity working with the underground church in Eritrea and with refugee communities across the region.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

As far as the average man on the streets is concerned, things remain as they were before and there are no new developments after the Lampedusa incident. Even though the people are feeling bad about this tragic event, they still remain paralyzed in their fear. However even the silence has been disquieting to the regime. The fear of the regime too is palpable:

(a) The police have been extra-vigilant, especially in checking the public bulletin boards, tear any funeral announcement they see there.

(b) Almost all ministers and key persons are banned from travel outside the nation.

The current state of Eritrean Airlines

Following the defection of Mr. Kibrom Dafla, the then general manager of Eritrean Airlines, in 2009, the airlines was run by Pakistani management group directed by a Packistani named Mr. Shaki ,from 2010 to 2012. This guy had previously worked in United Arab Emirates, in Dubai, as a simple travel agent. Mr. Shaki and his management group worked as a management team running the Eritrean airlines; and throughout his stay in Eritrea, Mr. Shaki was in direct contact with Isaias Afwerki. The flights to Lahore, Pakistan, where neither trade nor transpiration of nationals exist, created suspicious of about what Isaias is up to. It is feared that the airline was mainly used for smuggling purposes. Speculation of what the cargo could be ranges from gold to armaments.

After two years of probable smuggling operation, by end of 2012 Mr. Shaki and his staff left Eritrea for good and now Mr Shaki is residing in LahorIt is believed that Mr Shaki embezzled millions of dollars from the account of the eritrean airlines, and attempts to recover the money has been futile to date.

Further efforts to resusicate the airlines under Eritrean management has so far failed to bring any result.

Military leaders in key positions:

a) Major-general Philipos Weldeyohaness is now in charge of all prisons around Asmara. The prisons in Adiabeto, Maisrwa, Ala, Basit , Adinfas and Eraero are under his control, where so many people are tortured and killed.

b) Wedi-Memhir (Colonel), the one who conducted the shooting of disabled veterans (sinkulan) at Maihabar in 1993, is now in charge of arming people in entire Eritrea, known as Hizbawi Serawit (popular army), from the ages of 18 up to 75.

c) Colonel Wedi-liqe, similarly to Wedi-Memhir, has been in charge of arming and terrorizing people

d) Colonel Teame Mekele is still in charge of coordinating and arming various terrorist groups from Eritrea, especially from Massawa and Assab. It is to be remembered and he is in the black list of UN Security Council for this very act in the past.

e) Wedi-Ftewrari is another top security guy, who was previously stationed in Sudan spying on Eritreans; Now he is stationed in Massawa. He is believed to have taken over the navy position of Karikare, and he is now busy kidnapping and disappearing people.

f) Brigadier-general Abraha Kassa, as usual, is putting innocent Eritreans in prison in Asmara in Wenjel-Mirmera.

g) Colonel Simon Gebredingel, another known criminal in the security department, is known for killing people secretly by silencer and disposing their bodies in inaccessible places.

h) The criminal Brigadier-general Wedi-Libsu, who was previously a judge in the special court (Fuluy Firdibet), has been transferred to Sawa training center.

i) Colonel Tesfaldet, the main security man in Isaias’ office, is also in the business of kidnapping and disappearing people.

j)Hagos Gebrehiwet (kisha) and Issias’s relation is very strained after the defection of Hagos’ vice who is believed to be in one of the Scandinavian counties.

k) Major-general Teclai Habteslasse, is now spending most of his days in Massawa. After the defection of the personal pilots to Saudi Arabia, two foreign (white) pilots have been assigned to that task. Occasionally, it is believed that these pilots take the president to Saudi Arabia or Gulf States for medical attention, potentially for his chronic liver ailment. And insiders believe that if the situation in Eritrea gets real bad, this would be the route Isaias may take to escape from the country,

In addition to the above mentioned criminals, there are many other colonels and military and security officials who who are active kidnapping and disappearing people across the country,

As a result, Eritrea has by now turned into a huge cemetery. People are losing family members not only in Shegeraib Sudan by Rashaida, in the Sinai by Beduin, in Sahara and Libya and in Mediterranean Sea, but also in the hundreds of detention centers in Eritrea. In fact the deaths in these prisons by far outstrips those dying outside the country.

The health condition of higher officials

a) General Sibhat Efrem has been having a serious migraine problem, and he has been absent from his job on many occasions .

b) Major-general Samuel China has been having serious eye problem and is now using heavy eyeglasses.

c) Major-general Gerezgiher Wuchu is almost out of job because alcoholism.

d) Higdef’s secretary Alamin is also critically ill. He is irrelevant in the PFDJ circles

It is reported from sources inside Eritrea that thousands of younger people of military age (18 – 40) have been rounded up. They have been taken to military training centres in Sawa and Wea. Similar sweeps are said to have taken place in the town of Keren. In Asmara the operation is reported to have been carried out by Ethiopian opposition movements operating in Eritrea – mainly from the Tigray People’s Democratic Front known as Demhit locally.

Note: Sawa is on the Sawa river and is Eritrea’s main training camp. Wea (or Wi’a) is on the Red Sea Coast South of Massawa and is a notoriously harsh punishment camp. See Eritrea bans Lampedusa obituary notices for a previous reference to the Tigray People’s Democratic Front activities.

“Eritrean youths being arrested in Asmara and Massawa, but also Keren, Mendefere, Dekemhare, Seganeiti. The allegation that the rounding up is being done by Tigrayan members of Demhit is confirmed by this source. They are said to also provide personal security for President Isaias as well as guarding the president’s residence at night. In Massawa it is said that the sweep was conducted by a troops from a unit called “61 division”, which is terrorising the region.”

Saturday, October 26, 2013

ETHIOPIA’S PRINCE WHO TURNED TRAITOR

It has this caption: “This photograph, taken by Ray Rousseau, Acme staff cameraman with the Italian army in the North shows Ras Gugsa (centre with helmet), son-in-law of the Ethiopian Emperor who deserted to the Italians, surrounded by his followers after the Italians had captured Makale, ‘key’ town on the Ethiopian Northern war front.”

He paid a high price for his treachery, as this entry from Wikipedia makes clear. But this is what Time magazine said at the time: “Mounted on a prancing ass, and with an embroidered velvet chieftain’s robe worn like a chasuble over his Italian army uniform, bug-eyed Haile Selassie Gugsa, traitorous son-in-law of Emperor Haile Selassie, rode in triumph last week into his old capital of Makale. Behind him an Italian officer held high the Italian flag that had been hauled down from the same Ethiopian village in 1896.”

Wikipedia biography

Haile Selassie Gugsa was the son of Leul[nb 1] Ras[nb 2] Gugsa Araya Selassie. Gugsa Araya Selassie was the Shum[nb 3] of eastern Tigray Province as well as the great grandson of Emperor Yohannes IV.

Shum of eastern Tigray

In April 1932, Gugsa Araya Selassie died and Haile Selassie Gugsa replaced him as Shum of eastern Tigray with the title of Dejazmatch.

On 14 July 1932, Dejazmatch Haile Selassie Gugsa married Leult[nb 4] Zenebework Haile Selassie, Haile Selassie’s second daughter.[1] He was about 46-years-old and she was not quite 14-years-old. Leult Zenebework died in 1934 amid allegations of poor treatment at the hands of her husband. Relations between Emperor Haile Selassie and Dejazmatch Haile Selassie Gugsa became quite cold after this. The strain between them was especially apparent when the Emperor insisted on bringing his daughter’s body back to Addis Ababa for burial rather than allowing her husband to bury her in the capital of eastern Tigray, Mek’ele. This was a clear sign of Emperor Haile Selassie’s unhappiness with his son-in-law. Dejazmach Haile Selassie on his part was very bitter that he was not elevated to the titles of Leul and Ras which had been held by his father before him, and were held by his rival Seyum Mengesha of western Tigray.

At the same time as the marriage of Haile Selassie Gugsa to Zenebework Haile Selassie, Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen married Leult Wolete Israel Seyum, the daughter of Ras Seyum Mangasha of western Tigray Province. He was 16-years-old and she was about 26-years-old. The two marriages were meant to cement ties between the reigning Shoa branch of the Imperial Ethiopian dynasty with both rival sides of the Tigrean branch of the dynasty. The death of Princess Zenebework and the chill in relations between Haile Selassie Gugsa and Emperor Haile Selassie signaled the failure of this policy at least with the Eastern Tigrean branch of the dynasty.

Italo-Ethiopian War

On 3 October 1935, as Dejazmatch,[nb 5] Haile Selassie Gugsa was the commander in the Mek’ele sector when the Italians invaded Ethiopia. As the Italians advanced, Emperor Haile Selassie ordered Ras Seyum Mangasha, the Commander of the Ethiopian Army of Tigre, to withdraw a day’s march away from the Mareb River. Later, the Emperor ordered Ras Seyum to move back fifty-five miles from the border. Dejazmach Haile Selassie Gugsa, who was also in the area, was ordered to move back thirty-five miles. This was to demonstrate to the League of Nations that Italy was clearly the aggressor.

Betrayal

On 10 October, Haile Selassie Gugsa went over to the advancing Italians and announced his submission to Italian rule. The Italians immediately released photographs of Haile Selassie Gugsa participating in war councils with the Italian commander on the northern front, General de Bono. Furious Tigrean patriots in Mek’ele promptly set fire to Dejazmach Haile Selassie Gugsa’s home in the town. On 8 November, Mek’ele fell.[2]

Some sources indicate that Haile Selassie Gugsa and his forces played an active part in aiding the Italian invasion.[3] Other sources indicate his men were soon disarmed. Either way, Haile Selassie Gugsa remained loyal to the Italians who, at a minimum, used him for propaganda purposes during the balance of the invasion and during the five years of occupation. He was honored by the Italians with the title of Ras which had been denied him by Emperor Haile Selassie, as well as an Italian pension, and recognition as the senior Tigrean prince over his rival Seyoum Mengesha.

Italian East Africa

In May 1938, Haile Selassie Gugsa was in Italy to welcome German dictator Adolf Hitler when the Nazi leader paid a state visit to King Victor Emmanuel III. Hitler was visiting at the invitiation of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in Rome. Haile Selassie Gugsa watched as Mussolini’s son, Bruno, led a squadron of twenty-eight bombers that sank two 23,000-ton empty freighters in the Tyrrhenian Sea.[4]

By 27 September 1939, during the Feast of Maskal in Addis Ababa, Ras Haile Selassie Gugsa, Ras Hailu Tekle Haymanot, and Ras Seyum Mangasha sat with Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta, the Viceroy and Governor General of Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana, or AOI).[5] All three Ethiopian leaders had submitted to Italian control of what had been their homeland and what was now the AOI colony.

Liberation of Ethiopia

In 1941, towards the end of the liberation of Italian East Africa by British, Commonwealth, and Ethiopian Arbegnoch[nb 6] forces, Haile Selassie Gugsa was temporarily placed in power in Tigray by the British. British Brigadier Maurice Stanley Lush, Deputy Chief Political Officer for Ethiopia, placed him back in command of eastern Tigray Province, with the intention of separating Tigray from Ethiopia, joining it to Eritrea and establishing a new “Greater Tigray/Tigrign” monarchy under either Haile Selassie Gugsa or Ras Seyum Mangasha. This plan had the support of many British colonial officers, but not of the British High Command nor of the British government, and Ras Seyum proved to be cold towards any plan of dismembering the Ethiopian Empire. The Lush group had hoped that Haile Selassie Gugsa would be more accommodating. However, Haile Selassie Gugsa was soon caught corresponding with the Italians. As a result, the British took him into custody and kept him first in British held Asmara. The government of Emperor Haile Selassie I approached the British administration and listed the crimes and treason of Haile Selassie Gugsa and requested his extradition. The British indicated that they would extradite him only after obtaining a promise that his punishment would not include death. However, the British ultimately removed Haile Selassie Gugsa from Asmara and sent him to the Seychelles for safe keeping.[6]

Life sentence

In 1946, after continued requests for extradition, Haile Selassie Gugsa was returned to the Ethiopians. In 1947, he stood trial and was declared a fascist collaborator and a traitor. Haile Selassie Gugsa then threw himself on the mercy of the Emperor. As a result, his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was placed under house arrest at Gore, and later at Ambo for twenty-eight years.[6] His Italian-supplied honorific title of Ras was not recognized and he reverted to his old title of Dejazmach.

In 1947, eastern Tigray was incorporated into western Tigray and was governed by Ras Seyum Mangasha as hereditary prince of all Tigray. Dejazmach Haile Selassie Gugsa and his side of the family of Emperor Yohannes IV fell from grace. They no longer enjoy favor either from the Emperor in Addis Ababa or from Ras Seyum Mangasha in Tigray.

The Derg and Death

In 1974, the Derg toppled the Ethiopian monarchy and Dejazmach Haile Selassie Gugsa was freed. However, even after he was released, the Derg continued to regard him as a fascist collaborator and as a traitor to his country. Haile Selassie Gugsa remained under effective house arrest at Ambo in western Ethiopia from that point on although technically no longer a state prisoner. Haile Selassie Gugsa died in early 1975.[6]

See also

1. Mockler, Haile Sellassie’s War, p. 391

2. Nicolle, David, The Italian Invasion of Abyssinia 1935-1936, p. 8

3. Time Magazine, Gugsa Makes Good

4. Time Magazine, Germany/Italy: $20,000,000 Visit

5. Mockler, Haile Sellassie’s War, p. xxxiv

6. a b c Haile Selassie I, Volume II, p. 174

References

Haile Selassie I, Edited by Harold Marcus with others and Translated by Ezekiel Gebions with others (1999). My Life and Ethiopia’s Progress: The Autobiography of Emperor Haile Selassie I, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Volume II. Chicago: Research Associates School Times Publications. p. 190. ISBN 0-948390-40-9.

East African nation strongly denies 'shoot-to-kill' policy as general assembly hears over 300,000 have fled in past decade

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The claims against Eritrea were made at the UN's gteneral assembly, in New York. Photograph: Eric Thayer/Reuters

Human rights abuses in Eritrea are forcing 2,000-3,000 people to flee the east African nation every month despite a "shoot-to-kill policy" targeting those attempting to leave, a UN investigator said on Thursday.

Sheila Keetharuth, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Eritrea, said the UN refugee agency was concerned about 305,723 Eritreans who have fled over the past decade.

The most serious human rights violations are being committed in Eritrea, Keetharuth said, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, extended incommunicado detention, torture, indefinite national service, and lack of freedom of expression, assembly, religious belief and movement.

She told the general assembly's human rights committee that "excessive militarisation" in the country and indefinite national service for all Eritreans aged 18-50, often without adequate remuneration, "causes countless Eritreans to desert from their positions and flee the country".

Eritrea, a former Italian colony, gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war. It has been feuding over its border with Ethiopia ever since, including a war from 1998-2000 in which about 80,000 people died.

Eritrea has also disputed its border with the tiny port nation of Djibouti. Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki has been in power since the country broke away from Ethiopia in 1991.

Eritrea's ambassador to the UN, Arya Desta, rejected the report and Keetharuth's portrayal of the country, saying human rights issues were being used "as a tool of political pressure".

He accused unnamed countries of spearheading the imposition of "unfair and unjust" sanctions and of holding the entire population "in a state of 'no war, no peace'." Desta also denied there was a shoot to kill policy for illegally crossing the border and said youths were not required to stay for extended military service and were offered wide educational opportunities.

Eritrea has barred Keetharuth, a human rights lawyer from Mauritius, from visiting the country but she said she spoke to Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia, Djibouti and elsewhere in preparing her report. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also issued highly critical reports of human rights in Eritrea, calling it an oppressive state.

Keetharuth pointed to the number of Eritreans on board the two boats of migrants that sank off the coasts of Italy and Malta in October. "It demonstrates the desperation of those who decide to flee, despite the extreme dangers along escape routes and an unknown future," Keetharuth said.

She said that nearly as many Eritreans – 7,504 – as Syrians – 7,557 – have arrived in Italy by sea from 1 January to 30 September this year, citing figures from the UN.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

In a new report issued by Maplecroft, countries were ranked according to where child labor was most prevalent. The countries that ranked highest include: Eritrea, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, and Yemen.

In these countries, poverty significantly contributes to child labor rates because families need the income children provide in order to survive. Other contributing factors include recent or ongoing experiences of conflict, a lack of adequate legislation and government enforcement, along with prevalent attitudes and beliefs that encourage and support child labor.

Eritrea and Somalia tied for the number one ranking with both countries experiencing high rates of poverty and insufficient legal structures to adequately support efforts to combat child labor. In Eritrea the government supports several child labor practices; not only are children younger than 18 enrolled in compulsory military programs, but a national program also requires ninth through eleventh grade children to work in either agricultural or service jobs during their school breaks. In Somalia, the Somalia National Army and other non-government militias throughout the country contribute to the problem by recruiting, abducting and using children as soldiers.

“Violence and child labour go hand in hand, and they keep the child hostage in a dramatic vicious cycle. Both compromise children’s development and education, as well as their adequate standard of living; they hamper children’s health, rest and play; and at times lead to the prosecution and deprivation of liberty of child victims…But beyond the serious and long lasting impact on individual children, child labor and violence have a high social cost, holding back human development and preventing progress in the promotion of equity and social inclusion.” said Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Violence against Children.

Over the past decade, the world has made significant progress towards eradicating child labor with numbers dropping one-third, from 246 million to 168 million child laborers worldwide. Although an improvement, this decline is not enough and 11% of the world’s children remain out of school and working under conditions that are frequently hazardous to their safety, health and development.

The Third Global Conference on Child Labour was held from October 8th through the 10th in Brasilia, Brasil to discuss what progress has been made worldwide over the past few years. Representatives from non-governmental organizations, national governments, and organizations for both employers and workers met to discuss how to overcome existing barriers and eliminate child labor on a global scale. They concluded that countries and organizations must cooperate to work on changing existing attitudes and practices that continue to enable child labor practices worldwide.

Monday, October 21, 2013

With a coastline of 600 miles, Eritrea occupies an important place in the Red Sea. It even takes its name from the Latin term for Red Sea, Mare Erythraeum. After a three decade long war of independence with Ethiopia, Eritrea overwhelmingly voted for independence in April, 1993. After just over 20 years, some analysts fear that Eritrea is on the verge of collapse.

Eritrea is a nation of six million people belonging to nine officially recognized ethnic groups. Roughly half the population is Sunni Muslim and the other half belongs to several Christian denominations. The long struggle for independence gave a sense of national unity and in 1993 there was a strong belief in Eritrea’s success. However, today it is one of the largest sources of refugees in Africa. It is reported that around 4,000 people are leaving the country every month. Since many of these refugees are young males, Eritrea is facing a shortage of valuable labor. This adds further strain to the economy which is already in ruins.

One major obstacle for economic development in Eritrea is the military. Eritrea is perhaps one of the most militarized societies in the world. The defense budget of this small country is estimated to be one fifths of its GDP. Its army is now one of the largest on the continent, and has the highest number of military personnel per capita in the world next to North Korea. Eritrea has had a border conflict with Ethiopia from 1998 and has had several conflicts with other neighbors as well. Eritrea had fought briefly with Yemen over the Hanish Islands in 1995 and with Djibouti over a border dispute in 2008. Meanwhile, there are claims that Eritrea supported the religious fanatic rebel groups in Somalia. These clashes and claims have made Eritrea an isolated country even regionally. Its continuously abrasive tone has increased the isolation in the world.

As in most militarized societies, the ruling elite are using the military to hang on to power. Eritrea has known only one president during its entire 20 year history after independence. In 1993, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) leader Isaias Afewerki became the president of the country. The EPLF was renamed as People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) in 1994. Elections were planned for 1997 and an unimplemented constitution allowed for multi party politics. Afewerki used the conflict with Ethiopia as a pretext to crush all opposition and postpone elections.

However an opposition is growing even within the military and in January 2013 there was a military revolt led by a colonel and members of his brigade. They occupied the Information Ministry and forced the director of the national TV station to read their demands for political reform on air. This exposed the emerging cracks within Afewerki’s regime.

A much more embarrassing issue has been the case of defections among military and other high ranking officials. These include former Information Minister Ali abdu, once one of the closest allies of president Afewerki. Thousands of soldiers had sought for sanctuary in Ethiopia and Sudan over the past years. The most embarrassing event was the case of two pilots who escaped to Saudi Arabia with the president’s official airplane. Rubbing salt into the president’s wound, a third pilot who was sent to retrieve the plane also chose to stay in Saudi Arabia.

In some instances, the situation in Eritrea appears to be similar to that of the situation in Somalia during the latter part of the government of the former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. The Siad Barre regime was also weakened by an ongoing struggle with Ethiopia, and was finally forced out of power by several militant groups who forced him out of Mogadishu in early 1991. However, the militant groups each fought among themselves and anarchy engulfed much of the country. Somalia was one of the largest humanitarian crises in 20th century Africa and is still an ongoing conflict.

The possible collapse of the Eritrean state will have grave consequences to the region and the world. A refugee crisis of much greater proportions than today, resurgence of piracy and fears of rising religious fanaticism in the region are the most likely results of increasing anarchy. Eritrea lies in a vital trade route and if the state falls, the implications would be huge. Meanwhile, Eritrea’s poor Muslim communities are increasingly vulnerable to fanaticism even now. While Afewerki, now 67, stays in power, Eritrea will have some control of its internal situation. However, if the cracks widen in the military, there is no insurance against a repeat of what happened in Somalia.

- See more at: http://www.nation.lk/edition/international/item/22060-eritrea-teetering-on-the-brink.html#sthash.FbfAOvLc.dpuf

The migrants came from Eritrea, which is on the Horn of Africa and where the per capita income is about $800 a year. They sold everything they had, even their land, and then were trucked across the Sahara Desert with very little to eat or drink and taken to the Libyan port of Misurata. There, about 500 people were crammed onto a boat, which sailed for 13 days until the engines quit and the ship went dead in the water off the Italian island of Lampedusa. It was night, so the captain signaled the shore by setting fire to a blanket, which somehow ignited a drum of benzene. The fire spread and the panicked Eritreans fled to one side of the boat, capsizing it. Most of them couldn’t swim. Most of them drowned.

Richard Cohen

Cohen writes about politics in a weekly column and on the PostPartisan blog.

In the water, the living clung to the floating dead — 339 of them. Whole families perished. The Italian navy came by. Some migrants were rescued and brought to Lampedusa, which is closer to Tunisia than it is to Sicily. The mayor, Giusi Nicolini, wept at the scene. She had been through this before — previous drownings of African migrants — and she will undoubtedly go through it again. Last Friday, yet another ship capsized, this one off Malta, and 27 people drowned. The desperate, it seems, are very desperate indeed.

On the idyllic Mediterranean islands, the dead come in with the tide. Lampedusa promotes itself as “paradise.” I have seen these islands and I will not quibble. What’s more, the name of the island is that of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, author of “The Leopard,” a great, opulent book embracing life in all its glorious idiocy. To connect the chiaroscuro wonders of the novel with the darkness of the drownings is both ridiculous and inescapable. Here again is life in all its idiocy.

Still, there is yet another connection. The drownings occurred during Ted Cruz time. This is the period in our history when the senator from Texas and others think that what they want to do is so important they can shut down the U.S. government. They are suffused with an immense sense of self-importance. They declare their moment a crisis, and in a crisis you are obliged to do things you might otherwise not do — such as threaten to pitch the country into default. It is that important.

There is more. You can toy with the stock market — Oh, it will recover, won’t it? — sinking 401(k)s and possibly doing irreparable damage. You can put people out of work — federal workers, of course, but also hot dog vendors across the street and parking attendants who get no tips when no cars are parked. People can’t get mortgages and most national parks are shut and it’s all because of the crisis, the Ted Cruz Crisis, which had him talk for 21 hours to a Senate that, appropriately, did not give a damn.

I stood once on the dock at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Navy and the Coast Guard were fishing Haitians from the sea. They had naively set off for Florida from their mismanaged, hideously poor, nation. The sea overwhelmed them and the sun baked them and when they flopped on the dock, they had no life in their eyes. I looked at them, feeling guilty but not really guilty at all — certainly lucky, however. It was them and not me, and I had nothing to do with it.

It is the same with the Eritreans and others who try to make it to Europe. I cannot know such desperation, such poverty and, yes, such bravery. My grandparents, immigrants all, were rich compared to these migrants, although truly they had almost nothing. But my ancestors came on huge boats, ships of reputable lines, and were fed and not abused — and, of course, they did not drown. But the migrants who did, and the migrants who will, are all in crisis.

The increasingly remarkable Pope Francis went to Lampedusa in July after another drowning. He cited the Spanish playwright (and lapsed Jesuit and steadfast roue) Lope de Vega on the difficulty of ascertaining responsibility — who is responsible for the drownings? — and came up with a startlingly apt phrase: “The globalization of indifference.” We go on with our lives. The migrants are in crisis but so, insistently and insultingly, are Ted Cruz and the others in Congress. Otherwise, they would not be doing what they are doing.

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About Me

Prof. Muse Tegegne has lectured sociology Change & Liberation in Europe, Africa and Americas. He has obtained Doctorat es Science from the University of Geneva. A PhD in Developmental Studies & ND in Natural Therapies. He wrote on the problematic of the Horn of Africa extensively. He Speaks Amharic, Tigergna, Hebrew, English, French. He has a good comprehension of Arabic, Spanish and Italian.